High temperature corrosion and carbon deposition phenomena on stainless steels

Abstract

Depending on their history and composition, stainless steels can develop two types of protective oxide scale, comprising either a thin layer of chromium oxide or a more complex layer with the spinel structure. Both these types of scale are found in the heat exchangers of nuclear reactors cooled by carbon dioxide. Moreover, the type of scale has been found to correlate with deposition of carbon. The reason for these variations and the means by which equilibrium thermochemistry can be applied to a system that is very far from equilibrium are considered in the present paper.MST/2019